WWE is gearing up for its biggest show of the year with media rights negotiations and a potential sale of the company on the horizon.
On January 12, WWE announced that they engaged with outside advisors to review strategic alternatives in relation to upcoming media rights negotiations. One strategic alternative is a potential sale of the company, which would happen before media rights deals for WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown are locked in.
Speaking to Sports Business Journal, Nick Khan discussed WWE's position ahead of media rights negotiations.
“If you look at the ratings and relevancy of our product, we like to think we’re in a good position. We look to get into the heat of the conversation first with our incumbents by the middle of the year or so. Depending on the timing and how strategic alternatives shake out, it will be either be middle of the year getting hot and heavy, or some time shortly thereafter," said Khan.
WWE media rights will be up at the same time as NASCAR and NBA, but Khan stated, "We believe there’s plenty of money out there for us.”
Speaking about navigating a potential sale with the media rights negotiations, Khan said, “That’s probably the trickiest of all the parts, but one thing that all potential buyers know is that the rights that Fox and NBCU negotiated for separately will obviously have to be adhered to and respected with all sorts of good faith attached to that."
FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently stated that they are ready to negotiate media rights with WWE, but the discussions have yet to take place.
Fightful will continue to update fans on the potential sale of WWE and media rights when more is known.
